Agenda

The Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology cordially invites you to the Global Encounters interdisciplinary Research Seminar, “Cosmopolitanism, globalization, and Islamic piety movements in Mauritius” on 9 February 2012 at VU University Amsterdam.

Prof. dr. Patrick Eisenlohr (Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University)
Discussant: David Kloos (History, VU)
Participants are encouraged to read the seminar paper (request a copy at E.I.van.Ommering@vu.nl) and comment on it during the discussion.

For many Mauritian Muslims the participation in transnational piety movements is inseparably linked to what they consider to be modern and cosmopolitan lifestyles. The Mauritian state, too, encourages the growth of transnational religious networks as part of a policy of supporting "ancestral cultures." The example suggests that the intersection of processes at a global scale with state policies towards religion plays a key role in the emergence of religiously grounded cosmopolitanism in the contemporary world.

Patrick Eisenlohr is Professor of Anthropology at Utrecht University. He has conducted research on transnational Hindu and Muslim networks, language and diaspora, and media technology in Mauritius and India. In his most recent research he is interested in how media practices shape ethnic and religious pluralism, and how they contribute to the everyday dimensions of citizenship.

Date: Thursday 9 February 2012, 4-5.30 pm
Venue: VU University, Metropolitan Building, Room Z-113

For more information on this seminar series please visit our website: www.fsw.vu.nl/globalencounters

Upcoming seminars:
23 February 2012 Wai Weng (International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden)